Hello Crafty People!!
Today I have some more thoughts to share with you about those gorgeous Layering stamp sets you can get; this follows on from my post last week (if you haven’t seen that already you can check it out here) and it will be my second post for my Altenew Educator Certification Programme (AECP). Now I have to warn you, this is a bit of a mammoth post because I talk about how these sets work and different ways to try to use them, (especially for those differently abled crafters out there). Then I also have a couple of different examples where I’ve used these images on a card. I will seperate the sections out to make it easier to skip straight to the projects, so feel free to do that!
Recap
Last week I talked about some of the simpler layering sets and ways in which you can use them in a much more loose fashion, but today I want to get down to tackling those insane looking florals that Altenew are so well known for. (I say insane because they always look both jaw droppingly gorgeous and/or impossibly difficult.)
I completed both All About Layering 1 & 2 on Altenew’s online Academy, and spent 2x full days getting to grips with how to set them up. I have some tips & tricks that I picked up through trial & many errors. (If you have never seen these sets, or you feel you need some more in depth tutorials then I highly recommend checking out the online classes I took. They are even on sale and absolutely FREE at the time of publishing this post.)
Working around my abilities
First of all, some sort of stamp positioner is really crucial to being able to get these images perfect (or as close to as possible), I used my MISTI.
Each stamp set comes with a layering guide, (like this one here), and they show you which bits of each layer line up with the next one.
There is one major rule when you are setting these up: you have to get up above the stamp so you can look straight down onto it to make sure it is in fact lined up properly. But for those of you who don’t already know, I am in a wheelchair and can only stand with two elbow crutches for support, so that’s not something I can do. So I wanted to find out if there was a different ‘hack’ I could find that would make lining them up easier for anyone who can’t look straight down onto them for any reason.
After an unspecified number of failed attempts I realised that if I got down onto eye level with the stamp I could see those specified key areas and whether they were matching up. (My craft room was purpose built for my needs & abilities by my hubby, and I have my desk a lot higher than would be standard so I can easily get an eye level view of what’s on my desk.) I just looked at one point to see if it matched, then turned the whole thing round to check another bit and adjusted it as needed until it was in the right spot.
I made sure they were lined up right by stamping onto some scrap paper; I didn’t want to risk wasting my good paper because the stamp position was off.
Here’s how I set my MISTI up to stamp:
I placed the first image into the bottom corner and stamped it onto a 5inch square sheet of Neenah, then I rotated the paper clockwise and took the second layer, once this was in place I closed my MISTI to pick it up onto the door and rotated clockwise again. I did this until I had each of the 4 layers from my chosen image lined up in my MISTI and because I lined up each layer onto the stamped base layer I could easily make a full flower just by turning the paper & inking up the stamps.
It does take a little while to set up but once it’s done you can so easily make a large number of images in a relatively short time, and when this is the case I like to make the most of having them set up by stamping lots of extra images as well.
I used some of the ones I made during this crafty session and put the rest into my little tub of pre-stamped images for use another time.
Making those blooms the star of the show
I wanted to make a floral arrangement with lots of the different flowers I had got from my marathon stamping session. I made a quick background piece by spraying some Heidi Colour Shine onto a sheet of watercolour paper and set that aside to dry whilst I worked on my sentiment.
I used Altenew’s High Alpha dies to cut ‘hello’ from some neenah solar white cardstock and i also cut it four times from some black scraps I had. I stacked each letter up with the four black letters then white one on top. I used a Versamark pen to add WOW! Rich Gold embossing powder to the bottom parts of each letter; stacking then part embossing the sentiment really takes it up a notch and it can often be the difference that makes a handmade card look really professional.
I arranged my flowers in the bottom left corner of my background panel and once I had them how I wanted them to look I used some masking tape to hold them together exactly how I had arranged them whilst I turned them over and added liquid glue & some foam tape. (This works great if, like me, you spend ages getting them just right only to forget how you had it when it comes to picking each piece up individually to stick it down.)
I added a strip of dark green marbled washing tape to the top right and arranged my sentiment on it; this balanced out the panel as well as picking up the green from the leaves. I added the whole panel onto a Kraft card base.
Bonus cards
I used some of them making these cute little cards that I’m donating to local support groups to be given to someone who might be feeling especially lonely at the moment.I just added a quick strip across each mini card of embossed stripes or polka dots, then I added a quick stamped sentiment and popped a flower up on foam tape
I’ve really enjoyed this deep dive into the world of layered stamp sets and I’m so much more confident when using them
Hey Crafty People!
Please be aware:
As part of my Design Team and Guest Design work I do often receive free products to use, but I only ever recommend products that I genuinely love.
Also, I know how incredibly lucky I am to have these opportunities, but you don’t always NEED the newest products or the ‘full set’.
So please don’t feel that you need everything.
I like to show a variety of brands and products; this way there will be something for everybody to enjoy.
— SUPPLIES —
— My Basic Supplies That I Use On Every Project —
 MINI MISTI Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Alt | SBP | Trinity |
 MISTI – Original Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Alt | SBP |
 Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Shop at: Scrapbookcom | SBP | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US |
 Neenah 80lb Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Alt | Craftstash UK |
 Neenah 110lb Shop at: Alt |
 Gemini Jr Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK |
 Tim Holtz Trimmer 8.5inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Trinity |
 Tim Holtz Scissors 7inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US |
 Tim Holtz Mini Snips 5inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US |
 Tidy Tray Shop at: Trinity |
 Pick Up Stick Shop at: Trinity |
 Reverse Action Tweezers Shop at: Scrapbookcom | SBP |
 We R Trim & Scoreboard Shop at: Scrapbookcom |
 Pressure Tool Shop at: Trinity |
 Mini Trimmer Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US |
 9.5 inch Shears Shop at: Craftstash UK | Craftstash US |
 Bone Folder Shop at: Alt |
 Self Healing Mat Shop at: Alt | SBC |
*Affiliate links are used, where available; this means that I may get a small commission if you purchase using one of these links, at no extra cost at all to yourself. A huge thank you goes to anyone who does purchase using my links, it is so highly appreciated.
- Neenah Classic Crest – Solar White
- Craft UK – C6 kraft cardbase & envelope
- Hobbycraft – Black premium card stock
- Altenew – Vintage Flowers stamp set
- Altenew – High Alphas
- Altenew Crisp Dye Ink –
- Blush
- Rouge
- Velvet
- Crimson
- Citrus Burst
- Fresh Lemon
- Maple Yellow
- Honey Drizzle
- Heidi Swap Colour Shine – Tea Dye
- Versamark ink
- WOW! Rich Gold embossing powder
- Tombow Mono – Multi Glue
- Unbranded foam tape
- MISTI – Stamp positioning tool
- Hobbycraft mini card bases & envelopes
- Neenah Clasic Crest – Solar White
- Altenew – Vintage Flowers
- Altenew – Gift Tags stamp set
- Hero Arts – You Matter stamp set
- Altenew Crisp Dye ink –
- Blush
- Rouge
- Velvet
- Crimson
- Citrus Burst
- Fresh Lemon
- Maple Yellow
- Honey Drizzle
- Versamark ink
- Versafine – Jet Black ink
- WOW! embossing Powders:
- Dixon Green
- White Pearl
- Black Magic
- Red Metalline Flame
- Extra items on some of the cards were from my stash and Idk the brand etc.
So beautiful Tasha!!!!!
Thank you so much, Nat!! ?
Gorgeous work, Tasha!! I love those clean and simple cards too!! So gorgeous!
Thank you for entering your work to the AECP assignment gallery.
Thank you Erum, I’m so glad you like them! I’m absolutely loving doing my AECP! T.